The One
by mariko05
Summary: What happens when Nate and Cate have to deal with a pregnancy a second time round? Chapter One is REVISED. Some sexual content, profanity, and mature subject matter.
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing about the show.

**Note**: I really, really want to live in Vancouver right now! Now, whenever I listen to "Two Princes" it will remind me of the scene with Cate telling Lux that, "they provided the soundtrack for her conception"....Lol...**Sorry if I've recapped ALOT of the first episode**...I'm just building up for the rest of the story.

The One

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

"He called me," Cate Cassidy says with fake disgust, "the one." She smirks at Ryan, challenging him to say something contrary.

"Well, I hope you did something crazy, and slightly violent," he banters back, "like hurl a remote at his head!"

"I'm never tell you anything...ever," she replies.

"Good!"

"Again."

* * *

Lux smiles listening to the banter on the radio. She could always count on Cate and Ryan to brighten her morning.

She heard the door creak open, before she heard the footsteps. "Hey!" she yells, "I'm in here!"

"Lux," Bug whispers in her ear, "be quiet."

"Please...." she cries. "We broke up. _Remember_? You can't be here."

"Shut up," he tells her. "She'll hear you."

"Isn't that the point?" Lux tries to regain her confidence. "I _want_ her to hear us. I _do not_ want _you_ here."

Bug seizes her arm, and pulls her to the edge of her bed. "Sit," he commands.

"I know what I did was bad. I know you're mad at me. Okay? But that's not the reason that I broke up with you. I'm leaving. You need to _let me go_."

* * *

Beer bottles, empty pizza boxes, and inflatable sex toys littered the apartment. Baze, sleeping on his side, shifts over in a deep slumber, crunching some mystery object.

"Nate," Tracy whispers as she pokes him. "Nate! Help me find my shoe. I can't run with only one."

"Come back to bed," he groans.

"Seriously. When are you going to grow up?" She asks him, as she plucks an obviously soiled tee shirt from a massive pile of dirty clothes, and throws it into his laundry basket. "I don't think opening up a bar and living above it was what your dad had in mind when he gave you the building."

"Well," Baze replies, "my dad said to do what I love and I love to drink for free."

"That's kind of pathetic," Tracy laughs as Baze dangles her other shoe in front of her.

"Hey, give it here!" She cries out. As she lunges for her shoe, he grabs her arm and pulls her back to bed. "Oh!"

* * *

Baze cringes as the doorbell rings four times in succession. "What is up with the beer guy being three hours early?"

"Uh, you're not the beer guy," he says to the young girl at the door.

"Hi," she says sweetly. "I uh, I need a signature from someone. Probably not you."

"Uh huh," Baze comments skeptically.

"Whose that?" Math yells from inside the loft.

"A girl scout!"

"Oh my God, love those! I'll get two boxes!" Math shouts back.

"I'm um, not a girl scout. I'm looking for Nathanael Bazile."

"That would be me," he replies.

"Really? Are you sure?" she asks sarcastically.

"Last time I checked. What do you want? 'Cause I don't need thin mints."

"Like I said, I need your signature."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Lux, your daughter."

* * *

"Will you marry me?" Ryan kneels on the carpet of Cate's new house.

"Wha...what?"

"Will you marry me?" He asks again.

She slaps him playfully on the arm. "Are you drunk?"

"It's ten in the morning!"

"Some people start early," Cate shrugs.

"Okay, okay. This is the last time I'm asking. Will you marry me?"

"Are you sure? Because we've never even lived together. I don't floss; I wear these frou-frou pajamas and a mouthguard at night when your not around..."

"I know that. You never get your hopes up, so that you'll never be disappointed."

"Still..."

"Cate," he grabs her by the shoulders, "I love you."

He sees her guard being let down. "Okay, okay. Go ahead, do it, propose," she eagerly invites him to try again.

He scoffs, "Right. I'm not doing it."

"Ryan! But you said you wanted to!"

"No."

"I think you should try it again!"

"To be humiliated?"

"Please, please, please? I'm ready."

"Okay, fine," he smiles victorious. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will."

Ryan smiles as he leans into her, holding onto her waist, kissing her softly on the mouth.

* * *

"You're...my...daughter?" he laughs in her face.

She smiles. She breezes past him into his bar.

"Okay, one more time for the cheap seats. You and someone had a kid. You gave up that kid. I'm that kid, and now I'm applying for emancipation...So, I was putting together the paperwork for my hearing and it turns out no one signed a release of rights...my case worker was going to take forever, so I found your address and tracked you down...Basically, until you sign that you are still, legally, my dad."

"Take a breather."

As Lux handed him the release of rights form, Tracy breezed in. "Oh my God, I have to pee. Remember we have dinner at my parents. Its potluck, so figure out what you want to bring."

He takes Lux by the arm, "You have to leave."

"Let go of me!" She wiggles free. "Listen to me, Nate or Baze or whatever your name is, I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here. But my emancipation hearing is the day after tomorrow, and if I don't get these signatures, both signatures, I'm going to have to spend another two years being bounced around crappy foster homes, with the scope drinking moms and the creepy dads who hit on me...So just sign the damn thing!"

"Here's a pen," Jamie hands him.

"If you could rifle through the memory banks of teenage girls you impregnated, that'd be great."

As he folds up the paper to hand it back to her. "Cate Cassidy, that's your mom."

"Wait?" Lux looks incredulous. "Cate Cassidy from K100?"

"Cate Cassidy from high school?" asks Math in disbelief. "Class of '94? Cate Cassidy was pregnant in high school?"

"Yes."

"Cate Cassidy never would have slept with you. She was number one in the class. She despised you, your gross. She hated you. Did you roofie her?"

"No, I didn't roofie her. Who roofies people?" Baze asks him in disgust.

"Whose Cate Cassidy?" asks Tracy from behind him.

"Oh..." he slides in front of Lux to cover her. "This is..."

"Lux," she tells him angrily.

"Right...she's..."

"Just rip it off. Like a bandaid."

"It was high school. It was fifteen years ago. I thought she took care of it."

"Excuse me?" Lux punches him angrily.

"Ouch. Ugly choice of words. I'm sorry."

"So she's you're...."

"She's my daughter."

"Since you two are obviously having a moment, can you just give me her number so I can get out of here?"

* * *

"We're talking high school nicknames people? Josette," Ryan mocks.

"Cosette," Cate mouths to him.

"Cosette, sorry. Stay out of those janitor's closet will ya."

"Next on the line we have...Lux," says Cate. "Lux, are you there?"

She is speechless.

"Lux?"

She forces the phone into Baze's hand.

"Cate?"

"Well, you've certainly gone through some changes since high school."

Ryan laughs.

"It's Baze from high school."

"Wait a minute. You went to high school with Cate? Can you shed some light?"

"No," Cate panics. "There will be no shedding of light. Everyone knows I hated high school."

"Who hates high school? Did you have a pizza phase or something?"

"No!"

"An unrequited love affair with the driver's ed teacher?"

"Ryan, no!"

"Were you one of those girls who got knocked up on prom night?"

Cate has a stony look on her face.

"Did you get knocked up on prom night?"

"More like winter formal," answers Baze.

"Oh, Baze."

"Cate, I need to talk to you out in the parking lot."

She rips off her headphones and races to the parking lot.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Calm down."

"This is your way of calming me down? Humiliating me in public? What is so important that it couldn't wait until after the show?"

Baze steps to the side revealing Lux. "Cate, meet Lux, our daughter."

* * *

"I've been avoiding you," Cate tells Ryan at their Go on a Date with Ryan and Cate event.

"Excuse us," he tugs Cate away from some eager fans.

She pulls off the ring. "I don't think I can do this..."

* * *

"I'm going to be very straight with you. I'm not granting you emancipation. You have no income, you have no permanent residence, and you had to file a v-waiver to cover your court costs. Now, Catherine Cassidy and Nathanael Bazile are still legally, your parents, so I'm releasing you back into their temporary joint custody."

* * *

"Seriously, your blaming me? If you had only used a condom that had been in your wallet for two years..." she looks over at Lux. "But that's not the point. The point is we need to figure out what it is we're going to do. I mean the living arrangements, for example."

"It took me six months to talk the guys into buying a futon from Ikea, I don't think that a sixteen year old is going to be comfortable."

"God, you make me so angry sometimes!"

"Sometimes? I haven't seen you in fifteen years!"

"It was high school!" Lux yelled. "Get over it. I am, and I'm still in it. You know what, never mind. I'm going back to foster care."

"Lux, wait!" Cate yells after her.

"You let me go once," Lux tells her when she whirls around. "It shouldn't be that hard to let me go again."

* * *

"So how did we end up in the back of my mom's minivan?"

Cate giggled. "You lured me in...with Zema and the Spin Doctors."

"Oh," he says disappointed. "I thought it was my mad skills and my rockin' tape deck."

"Your mad skills?" Cate questions. "You didn't make it through Two Princes."

"Touche," he says as he downs his whiskey. "I'm sorry. Back then, I was in over my head, and I was afraid I was going to mess up my life. We can't all be as smart, successful and pretty as you. You know, some of us peak in high school."

Cate blushes. "She has your eyes. Lux. I always really liked your eyes."

Cate looks away, unused to her own sentiment.

"Cate," he whispers tenderly, as he turns her face towards his. "Lets dance."

"What?" she asks, caught off guard.

She takes his outstretched arm, as he leads her into the middle of the room and into his arms. She rests her head on his shoulder, as he guides her around the dance floor.

After a minute she looks up at him. "You've changed somehow."

"I want you, Cate. That still hasn't changed."

"I..."

He lowers his head and kisses her. Without hesitation, his mouth is opening hers, and she feels the pressure of his tongue. She snakes her arms around his neck, and he slides the zipper down the back of her dress. She hurriedly steps out of it and he lifts her up and she wraps her legs around his waist. She can feel his erection from within his jeans.

"Take them off," she whispers.

He knocks into the door frame of his bedroom on the way to his bed. He throws her onto his bed. He can see the arousal in her eyes, and she is tugging at his waist.

"Come here," she groans.

As he straddles her, she fumbles with his pants and he unbuttons his shirt.

"God," he stares at her, "you're beautiful."

"Kiss me."

He gets up, grabs her thighs and pulls her to the edge of the bed. He slides off her panties and places sloppy, openmouthed kisses all the way up her legs.

"Stop teasing..." she giggles.

"Oh my God..." she moaned as she felt his tongue slip inside her. She arches her back. "Oh my God..."

All of a sudden Cate closed her thighs with his head still between her thighs.

"Cate? Cate!"

"Oh my God," she relaxed. "Oh my God, I'm really sorry. I thought I heard...I mean, I thought I heard the doorbell."

Cate sits up, and crawls around until she is straddling his lap.

"Lie back," she commands.

She practically rips off his briefs and flicks them to the side. She lowers herself into him, and thrusts in and out.

As she's about to come, she leans forward and kisses him, her hair draping the sides of his face, and he can feel the reverberation of her moan. She slides off of him, and falls asleep on his chest.

He kisses her forehead and promises, "we'll find her in the morning."


	2. The Turning Point

Note: Love, love, love Erin Karpluck! She plays Alice, by the way. Can't wait for the new season of _Being Erica_.

**Chapter Two: The Turning Point**

"Lux!" Cate bellows, her voice hoarse because of the party she hosted from the night before, "Baze will be here in an hour to pick you up for school. _Be ready this time_."

Cate sighs, exasperated. Being a parent is difficult, she thinks. It's like she's an _only_ parent; Baze embracing the overgrown man child, that he is.

"Oh," she brings her hands to her mouth, as she feels heartburn from her regurgitated breakfast. She races into the bathroom, only to vomit beside the toilet. "I don't," she groans, as she faints.

**Fifteen minutes later**...

"Cate," Lux calls from the kitchen. "Cate! Aren't you going to be late for work?"

She is met with silence.

"Cate?" she calls out again, curiously. Its unusual, even for Cate to leave this late; her show starts in ten minutes, and it takes at least that long to get there. Lux walks into her Cate's bedroom. "Cate, you should really wake up..." she trails off when she sees the light to her bathroom on, and saunters in. "Cate... Cate..." she tsked, "You really shouldn't leave this on..."

"Oh my God!" Lux freaks out when she sees Cate sprawled on the floor, unconscious. "Cate?" she cries.

"Oh my God...oh my God...what to do?" Lux whirls around, looking for the closest phone. She trips over Cate's laundry basket, on her way to the phone. She dials the police number twice before she got it right.

"I..." she begins, tears welling up, "I...need....I need an ambulance."

* * *

"Hey, Alice?" Ryan shouts from within the recording area, "Have you heard from Cate?"

"No...I was going to ask you the same question," she replies. "I mean, I called her house and cell, but she's not answering. Do you think she's okay?"

Ryan shrugs. "Maybe something came up with Lux."

* * *

"God, this is depressing," Lux whispers to herself as she looks around the sterile hospital. Then she dials the number that she's been abusing lately.

"Hello? Lux?" Baze answers angrily. "Where the hell are you? You're supposed to be at Cate's...she's going to kill me...."

"Well, it's Cate," Lux replies. "She's in the hospital."

"Wha...what?" he answers, in shock. "Why?"

"They...they won't tell me anything. Can you come down here...please?"

He couldn't help noticing the nervous, panic setting in her voice. "Are _you_ okay?"

* * *

"Pick up, pick up, pick up..." Alice says impatiently, tapping her fingers on the table. "Where the hell are you?" she asks, more as a rhetorical question, than anything else.

* * *

"Wake up, Portland!" Ryan enthuses. "It's Ryan Thomas on K100 _Morning Madness_. Right now, it's six o'clock and today's topic is chemistry; why some people just don't have it and others have it in spades...I have Amanda, from Beaverton on the line. You are on the air."

"Take you and Cate, for example. You both sound like totally different people now that you're engaged and she's got a kid. You sound so laid back, and well, she sounds intense and kind of bitchy."

"Is there a question here?" he asks, annoyed.

"Well, when did you know you were perfect for each other?"

"Well," he begins.

"Where is Cate, by the way?" she asks, inquisitively.

"Good question. How about I give the floor over to my imaginary co-host today, Cate Cassidy. Cate, what's your take on this?"

Complete silence.

"Are you mocking me?" Amanda asks insulted.

"Aren't _you_ mocking _me_?"

* * *

"Cate?" Baze takes her hand in his. He sits down beside her. She opens her eyes.

Her doctor walks in.

"Is this your fiancee, Cate?"

"No," she responds meekly. "He's..."

Baze stands, extending his hand, as he replies, "No. I'm Lux's father."

When he is met with a blank stare, he explains. "Lux is our daughter."

"Oh," the doctor says, as if enlightened. "The teenage girl outside the room?" Baze notices the skepticism in the doctor's voice.

"Yeah...yes," Baze answers firmly.

"Well, Cate. How are you feeling?" The doctor turns her attention back to her patient.

"Better," she groans. "Where's Lux?"

"She's fine. She's outside your room, pacing."

"She should really be in school," she tells Baze.

"I'm on it," he says, standing up. "It was nice meeting you..."

"Dr. Hamilton," she tells him.

"Dr. Hamilton," he says as she blushes a deep pink.

"Okay," she says, sitting in the chair beside her bed. "I'll be blunt. We did some blood work, and you're pregnant."

"What!" she shrieked, her voice reverberating down the hall.

Baze turns around at the sound of her panic. "Do you think we should...?" he asks Lux.

"No. She'll be fine," Lux shrugs, walking out the door.

"Okay," he says unsure of himself.

* * *

"So that's the show for today folks," says Ryan. "I'm Ryan Thomas, and hopefully I can find Cate Cassidy in time for the show tomorrow."

* * *

"Bye," Baze calls to Lux's back. She waves her arm in the air, not bothering to turn around. He laughs.

* * *

"_Open Bar_. How can I help you?"

"Hi. Is Na...Baze around?" Ryan asks, thinking _Baze_ just sounds so unnatural coming from him.

"No. He's at the hospital," answers Jamie. "Would you like to leave a message?"

"Is he okay?"

"Who are you?"

"Is Cate with him?"

"Are you Ryan?" Jamie asks, suspiciously.

"Yeah."

"He's with Cate," Jamie tells him, warming up to the person on the other end. "He said something about a pregnancy."

Ryan hangs up, shocked, and trips all the way down the stairs before making it to his car.

_Pregnant_? _Cate_? _And why was Baze with her_?

* * *

Cate opens her eyes, slightly, as she sees Baze enter the room again.

"Did you drop her off?"

"Of course," he tells her, interlocking their fingers. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful," she grimaces as another wave of nausea hits her.

"Thank you...for taking her."

"That's my job." She pulls away from him, and he lets go of her. "So," he asks casually, "Do you know who the father is?"

She turns around, looking sheepish.

"I'm guessing that's a negative," he quips, angrily.

She struggles to sit up. "I'm sorry," she manages to get out before the nausea hits. She lies back down, facing him.

"I'm sorry," she exasperates. "I'm sorry that I ruined your pathetic little life sixteen years ago. I'm sorry that we can't even be in the same room together without fighting," she flushes, her heartbeat racing and her voice raising an octave.

"Cate," he whispers tenderly, attempting to calm her overwhelming fear by hugging her. "It's okay. You didn't ruin my life. Its more like the other way around."

He pulls away, looking intensely into her eyes. "Lux is amazing. She is a lot like you."

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Ryan demands indignantly, when he enters the room and sees them sharing an intimate moment.


	3. The Welcoming Committee

**Note**: The song at the end is _Two Princes_ by the Spin Doctors. For the record, I hope the show doesn't wait too long to get Nate and Cate back together...'cause I'm holding my breath in anticipation.

**Chapter Three: The Welcoming Committee**

"What the _hell_ is going on?" Ryan asks irately, staring Baze down.

He shifts uncomfortably under Ryan's indignant glare. "Um, yeah," he points towards the door. "I'll let you two talk."

Ryan blocks his exit. "Don't you dare move," he threatens. "Something is going on and I want to know what it is."

Cate sits up, alert. "I'm pregnant."

"I know!" Ryan cries in exasperation. "What I don't understand is why this has to do with Baze?"

"You _know_?" she asks in surprise.

She looks over at Baze helplessly, but he has already slipped out the door. _Great_, she thinks. Avoiding responsibility, like usual. Ryan, recognizing that **deer-in-the-headlights** look suddenly understands. He scoffs at his own naivete.

"He's the father, isn't he?"

Looking at him sheepishly, she replies, "I don't know."

Ryan shakes his head in disappointment. "I knew something was going on. God, I can't believe I'm so _stupid_."

"Look...Ryan," Cate attempts to explain. "It was just something that happened. It was an accident, and will never happen again. Ever. I promise."

"That's right," he sighs. "Because I'm done. If loving you means so little, then I'm done. I can't be the only one in this relationship. Grow up," he advises her and walks out the door.

Cate looks around, but finds that she is all alone.

* * *

"Hey kiddo," Baze calls to Lux, poking his head out the car window. "I'll drive you to the hospital."

"How is she?" Lux asks, throwing her backpack into the back seat of his jeep.

"She's fine. She's..." Baze trails off.

"Pregnant?" Lux finishes for him.

* * *

Baze returns to find Cate staring, zombie-like, at the television screen.

"How'd Ryan take it?"

She turns her head robotically to look at him with disdain. "How do you think?" she sneers, "He left."

"I'm sorry," Baze apologizes. "For everything."

"What difference does it make?" she poses to him. "I told him," she gestures at the two of them together, "was a mutual mistake, and he still didn't buy it."

"You can leave," she bitches at him, "...so I can talk to Lux."

He looks back in concern, but walks out the door anyways, kissing the top of his daughter's head as she enters the room.

"What's up with her?" she whispers to him. He pats the top of her head, and cautions her, "Your mom's tired; don't be too hard on her. She's gone through a lot lately. I'll see you tomorrow."

Lux sits down beside Cate reluctantly. Cate smiles whimsically. "Lux."

"You look tired. You should rest up."

"I'm sorry, sweetie."

Lux gives her a strained smile.

"I'm pregnant," Cate informs her, taking strands of Lux's blonde locks and twirling them between her fingers.

"I know."

Cate stops fidgeting. "You do realize...your father and I....we love you, but we aren't, you know, together."

"What about Ryan?"

Cate looks grim. "Ryan and I; we're no longer together. I think I fucked that up. _Literally_."

"Whoa," Lux cries in shock. "Language." She laughs. "I've never heard you swear like that before."

"Well...we have a lot to learn about each other."

* * *

**Two days later...**

"I feel much better," argues Cate with one of her nurses. "Can't I take a cab?"

"No!" the nurse tells her. "You're still very fragile. You need to wait for a ride."

"I feel fine!"

"Sit down," the nurse barks at her.

"Fine," she whines, defeated. "But I don't want _him_ picking me up."

"Baze?" the nurse questions, elated. "We all love him."

Cate rolls her eyes.

"Of course you do," she says sarcastically. "So does everyone else."

Someone walks up from behind and covers Cate's eyes with their hands.

"Alice?" Cate asks incredulously, not believing that she wouldn't take Ryan's side in this situation.

"Come to take you home."

"What happened to Baze?" she asks suspiciously.

Alice smiles and shrugs. "He had stuff to do, so he called the station and since I wasn't doing anything..He sweet talked me into it."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Cate declares, upset that he would pawn his duty off to her friends.

"He forgot he was hosting a huge event tonight. So we can have a girls' night. No booze, of course."

"He forgot?" Cate rolls her eyes. "It's more likely he didn't feel like it, so he figured that you would drop everything to come and get me."

* * *

"Shift it over to the right," Lux directs Baze and Math with the _welcome home_ banner. "No, back to the left. A little more. Nope, slightly...like an inch...to the right."

Lux almost tripped racing down the ladder as Jamie enters with the Cosmopolitan mix. "You wanna mix?"

"Yeah!"

"Virgin cosmos, Lux," Baze warns her. "No alcohol."

"Obviously," Lux rolls her eyes. "Mom's pregnant."

"Oh! My! God!" Math blurts out. "You got her pregnant, again?"

Baze gives him a warning glare. "No. Maybe. We don't know."

"I'm guessing you didn't invite Ryan?" he follows up.

"Why would I invite him? He was winding up to hit me."

"You could take him," Jamie tells him encouragingly.

"Thanks for that. But I wouldn't."

* * *

"I can't believe he ditched me...at the hospital!" Cate whines.

"For someone who claims she has no feelings for him, you certainly are emotional about his bailing on you," Alice speculates.

"Why does everyone takes his side?" Cate asks rhetorically. "What is wrong with me?"

* * *

The doorbell rings, and everyone freezes.

"She's not supposed to be back so soon," Lux mutters.

Lux looks at Baze who looks at Jamie who looks back at Lux.

"Fine!" she exclaims. "I'll answer the door. You'd think she'd be able to find her own house key."

"Ryan," she states in shock when she opens the door.

"Soooo...you gonna let me in?" Ryan slurs, as he breezes past her, only to trip over Cate's shoe rack.

"Are you drunk?" Baze asks him.

"Where's Cate?" Ryan asks, ignoring Baze.

"She's not home yet," Lux answers, trying to push him towards the door.

Ryan shoves her off. "I'll wait."

"Hey," Baze blocks Ryan's access to her. "Don't touch her!"

"Give me a break...she can take care of herself."

* * *

**Twenty minutes later...**

"Hi everyone!" Alice shouts excitedly, wheeling Cate inside. "Sur_prise_!"

She is met with silence.

"What are you doing here?" Cate asks Ryan.

"I can't believe that you'd rather date this..." he points at Baze. "What'd you call him?" he mocks. "A _barely upright Orangutang with chronic bedhead_..."

"Thanks for that," Baze nods at Ryan. "You should leave."

"I should, but I won't."

Ryan seizes Cate by the shoulders. "What? So my love doesn't count? At all? _I love you_."

"Ryan, you're hurting me!" Cate cries out in pain.

"Let go of her!" Baze and Lux step forward to protect her.

"How cute," Ryan jeers. "It's too bad neither one will be around much longer."

"What're you talking about?"

"She's sixteen Cate. She'll be at university soon. And Baze; why do you think he's stayed around this long? _Because of his daughter_. Do you think he gives a crap about you? _No_."

"That's enough," Baze warns him. "Leave."

Ryan takes a swing at him, and Baze ducks. Baze punches him, hard, near his cheek.

"Baze!" Cate screams. "Stop!"

"Okay...okay..." Alice frantically tries to scoop an unconscious Ryan into her arms. "Time to go home."

"A little help, please," she begs of someone. Jamie lifts Ryan up and carries him to Alice's car.

"Well..." Math steps in, "that was exciting, but I should be getting back to the loft. Big day tomorrow, right Lux?"

"Huh?" she looks at him blankly.

"We have the _thing_ tomorrow at school," he presses her.

"Oh, right," Lux slaps her forehead. "The _thing_...at school."

"Good night," Math and Lux tell Cate and Baze.

"So...It's just the two of us..." Baze comments.

"Yep."

"I should go."

"You should."

"I'm leaving."

"Stay..." Cate takes his hand, leading him to her bedroom. "Please."

* * *

"Can you imagine what you're parents are going to say when they find out you have a kid?" Cate giggles.

"No. I'm not really planning on them finding out."

"So...what? I think they'll have questions when you show up with a young blonde...Unless they expect you to date girls half your age."

"That's disgusting," he tells her.

"Oh my God, I love this song!" she tells him, humming along to her television. "_You marry him, you're father will condone you. How 'bout that now? Marry me, you're father will disown you...la la la la..._"

"I don't think that's how it goes. It's more like," Baze, rocking out. "_Marry him or marry me, I'm the one who loved you baby, can't you see? And I ain't got no future or family tree..._"

Cate and Baze laugh at their nostalgia.

"So, how did we end up in the back of my mom's minivan again?"

"You lured me in..." Cate begins.


	4. Blast from the Past

**Note**: The song is called _Two Princes_ by the alternative NY band, the Spin Doctors. _So good_...as Lux would say. Anyways, I've decided to revise this chapter, because I'm bored and I should be writing an essay. Forgive me, I'm using the name of a hospital in Oregon, but I don't know what kind of treatment they give. This is just for the sake of the story. Also, Baze seems like a jerk, kind of unfounded, so I'm giving him more of a backstory. I might do the same for Cate later on. Enjoy!

**Chapter Four: Blast from the Past**

"Damn it!" Baze shouts in frustration. _Beep_. _Beep_. "Shit," he groans. He is trying to keep a low profile because he was kicked out of the winter formal for showing up completely plastered. His father is not going to be pleased when he hears about this incident. Especially when he discovers that Baze miraculously disappeared after the ambulance arrived; lost in the crowd of over- attention. Everyone making a production out of his date's admittance into Providence Portland Medical Center. So much for the dream car that he was promised in two days.

Cate almost jumps out of her skin, when she hears the car beeping.

"Geez," she mutters, walking through the full parking lot, a few cars away from the offender. "Of course, it's _him_."

She watches with curiosity as he climbs over the backseat and lifts open the trunk.

"Cate!" Baze calls to her retreating back. She ignores him. _Maybe he'll stop talking_, she thinks to herself. "Cate!" Baze calls to her a little bit louder.

"What?" she whirls around, annoyed.

Baze crooks his finger in a _come hither_ gesture. "Come here," he mouths at her.

"What. Do. You. Want?" She is definitely _not_ in the mood to be insulted. Not when her date ditched her for smoking cloves behind the bleachers with _her_ friends. _Some_ friends.

"Want some?" he asks innocently, holding out a bottle of Zima to her.

"Really?" she questions incredulously, worried about his intentions towards her.

"What's wrong?"

"Well," she mocks, "this is the first time you've deigned to speak to me."

"I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

Cate takes the proffered Zima and sits in the back of his mom's van. "Lets get one thing straight," she tells him firmly. "I'm only here because I like this song."

_**One, two princes kneel before you, thats what I said now**_**.**

"Cheers," he tips his bottle towards her.

"Whatever."

_**Princes, princes who adore you, just go ahead now.**_

"So," Cate makes small talk. "Where's your date?"

"Oh," Baze replies, sheepishly. "She was medivacked."

"Did you drug her or something?"

"No, I didn't drug her," he defends himself. "Who drugs people?"

"You're the quarterback. I wouldn't put it past you to do something stupid."

"Thanks," he answers snidely. "Where's you're date?"

"He, well... ditched me," she tells him with hesitation.

"Since you're so sociable, right?" he mocks.

Cate doesn't respond, tears welling up in her eyes.

_**One has diamonds in his pockets, that's some bread now.**_

He sets his bottle down and stares at her.

"Stare much?"

He moves, so he is sitting in front of her. "You're..."

"What?" she giggles nervously, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"You're beautiful," he tells her seriously, cupping her face in his hands.

"God, you're cheesy," she continues giggling. "Are you drunk?" she whispers, hitting the nail on the head.

_**This one said he wants to buy you rockets, ain't in his head now.**_

"I feel kinda dizzy," she tells him.

"It's just the carbonation," he informs her.

"Wow, that's such a big word for you," she jokes.

_**This one he got a princely racket, that's what I said now.**_

"I've noticed you," he admits, pressing his temples, trying to ease the pounding in his head.

"Ha!"

"I have!"

"That's a good one! You almost had me..."

_**Got some big seal upon his jacket, ain't in his head now.**_

Cate shivers, wrapping her arms around her self.

"Are you cold?"

"I'm fine," she retorts.

"Shift your legs over," he instructs her. "I'll close the trunk."

Cate watches him with surprise when he closes and locks the trunk, and then hands her his jacket.

"Thanks," she answers, with gratitude.

_**You marry him, your father will condone you, how 'bout that now.**_

Cate doesn't know whether it was her crush on him, the song, or the alcohol, but she wraps her arms around his neck and shifts over so she is practically sitting on his lap.

"What are you doing?" he laughs, amused.

"I'm not sure," she answers, pressing her body close to his, kissing him urgently.

He pulls away. "Are you sure?" he asks skeptically. It is _Cate_, after all.

"I think so." But he notices the slight hesitation in her voice.

"Maybe we shouldn't."

"Oh, come on," she mocks him. "When have you ever rejected sex?"

"And you know this..._how_?"

But he rolls her over anyways, so she is lying on her back, and he slides his hands under her dress.

"Hmmm..." he feels her hum.

He slides her panties down her legs, and she unbuckles his belt, pulling it out of his pant's loop, and tugging at his zipper.

"I'll...I'll do it."

Just as he was about to enter her, he pulls back. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she tells him, slightly irritated, and slightly too drunk to make any kind of decision _not_ being commanded by her hormones.

_**You marry me, your father will disown you, he'll eat his hat now.**_

She couldn't really feel him moving in her, but felt his weight pressing down upon her, making it harder to breathe.

_**Marry him, or marry me, I'm the one that loved you baby, can't you see?**_

_**Ain't got no future or family tree,**_

_**but I know what a prince and lover ought to be...**_

_**I know what a prince and lover ought to be.**_

_**Said, if you, want to call me baby...just go ahead now**_

_**And, if you, like to tell me maybe...just go ahead now**_

_**And, if you, wanted to buy me flowers...just go ahead now**_

_**And, if you, like to talk for hours...just go ahead now**_

She felt warmth, and seconds later, he turns over and lies beside her.

"Well, that was..._that_," she comments with sarcasm.

She pulls up her panties and leaves the vehicle, not looking back.

* * *

**Less than an hour later...**

**"What is wrong with you?" his father shouts in anger. "You have a brain, try using it!"**

"I'm sorry I'm such a disappointment to you! But this is who I am!" Baze storms off to his room.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him," he hears his mother defend him to his father.

"Why? So he can just laze around and do nothing?"

"He's not doing nothing. He has an internship with _your_ company, he plays football, he has nice friends..."

"Nice friends?" his father asks incredulously. "His friends got to the dance so drunk they had to be medivacked!"

**A month later...**

Cate was circling the outer edge of Baze's group of friends.

"Can I? Can I talk to you?" she shouts over the crowd.

Baze looks at his friends and shrugs. "What?"

She gestures for privacy.

"What do you want?" he asks angrily.

"I'm pregnant," she blurts out.

"Ha! Ha! That's a good one. I almost fell for that. Aren't you on birth control?"

"Birth control?"

"Come on...for someone so smart, you sure are stupid about sex."

"_Please_, Baze. I don't know what to do..."

Baze could visualize his father's red, irrate face already, at hearing the prospect of his soon-to-be seventeen year old son bringing home a baby.

"Figure it out," he tells her and walks away.

She couldn't believe that he would dismiss her like that. He was a jerk, but she didn't think he would be _that_ much of one. She could hear him boast to his friends how he would never sleep with such a slut as Cate.

"I'm not a slut," she tells herself confidently. "Am I?"


	5. Bug

**Note**: Just a comment on the show--has anyone else noticed their propensity towards eighties music? Never mind. I thought The Weepies' song, "The World Spins Madly On" was from the eighties, but it was only from 2001...OMG! LOL, my bad. But I love the song. It makes me reminisce about listening to Human League, in third grade. This is completely off topic...if anyone else is a HUGE K-Bell fan, like moi, she's is slated to star in Meg Cabot's _Queen of Babble_...Also, I want to thank those of you who take the time to read and review my stories...it really motivates me to write...So, thanks! Enjoy!

**PS**. The lyrics I'm using for this chapter is from a Mandy Moore song called "Bug."

Chapter Five: Bug

_What would happen if I flew to San Francisco?_

_Wouldn't make much sense_

_From the outside looking in_

_Coming around again_

**3:17 am**

"Get the door," Baze whines sleepily, poking Cate.

"Wha...?" Cate replies.

"Door."

The doorbell rings for the eighth time in succession when Cate finally registers it.

"What the hell?" She slides into her slippers and glides towards the front door. She can make an outline of the person, but can't tell who it is.

"Lux," she hears the man yell. "Lux! Open up!" he shouts again, as he pounds his fist on the door.

"Who are you?!" Cate asks, incredulously. "What the hell are you doing here at three in the morning?"

Bug ignores her, and brushes past her before she can comment.

"You need to leave," she tells him.

"Yeah, I _don't_."

"Are you drunk?"

"Lux!" Bug yells.

"Be quiet. She's sleeping."

"Lux!"

"Cate! What the hell is going on?" Baze asks, before he stops dead in his tracks, seeing Bug. "You _need_ to leave," he tells him, taking him by the scruff of his neck and walking him to the door.

"Bug?" Lux whispers, as she descends the ladder, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"You _know_ him?" Baze and Cate ask simultaneously.

"Obviously. She's my girlfriend," Bug tells them, having recovered from the shock of being treated like a criminal.

"Ex-girlfriend," she corrects him. "I'm sorry," she tells Baze and Cate. "We need to talk. We'll be really quiet. I promise."

"I don't like this," Cate tells Baze.

"Go with the flow," he shrugs. "At least he didn't try to break in."

"Thank God for small miracles."

* * *

_All the answers _

_Far too many questions_

_All the things we said_

_Never really put to bed_

_Coming around again_

**3:40 am**

"What are you doing here?" Lux asks him, gesturing him to sit at the kitchen table.

"I want to talk about what happened."

"What happened?!" Lux asks, shocked. "What happened is I lost the baby. Lost. _Okay_? A perfect euphemism."

"Is it something I did?"

"Of course not!" Lux yells, angrily. "But I want to forget. F-O-R-G-E-T. You make it hard to forget."

Baze stretches and opens the bedroom door. "Okay buddy, time to head home. I don't know if you're on Greenwich Time or what, but its almost four in the morning and Cate has to get up soon. _You _have to _leave_."

"Whatever," Bug shakes his head in disbelief. "I'm leaving." To Lux he says, "But I'll be back."

* * *

_You know, I love you_

_What am I supposed to do?_

_You're so far away_

_I stay on track_

_You're all over the map_

_Come back to L.A._

**3:46 am**

"Night Baze," Lux says innocently, her right foot already on the bottom step of the ladder.

"Hold it!"

Lux pretend yawns. "I'm tired. Can't we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Right now is tomorrow," he corrects her.

"I have school?"

"Get your butt at the table, now...We need to talk."

"But..."

"Sit," Baze commands.

"Wow," Lux giggles nervously. "You're acting very _fatherly_ right now."

"I am?"

Lux stands up. "Nice chatting with you, but I have school tomorrow, so we'll have to talk about this later."

"Hey! Sit!"

Lux sits.

"Who is Bug? And why is his name Bug? Doesn't that worry you?"

"He was my boyfriend. His real name is Andrew. And no, the name Bug doesn't worry me. Okay? Are we done?"

"For now," Baze warns. "Good night."

"Night..._dad_," Lux teases.

"I like the sound of that," Baze calls out after her.

Lux smiles as she ascends the ladder.

* * *

_You know, I love you_

_What am I supposed to do?_

_I've been here before_

_I stay on track_

_You're all over the map_

_Come back to New York_

**3:46 am**

"Baze," Cate groans, groping around his side of the bed.

* * *

_Is this the only way for us to communicate_

_I put it in a song_

_Didn't really take too long_

_Coming around again_

_Coming around again_

**4:45 am**

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Turn it off," Baze groans, sleepily. "Turn it off."

"I have to get up," Cate informs him, rolling out of bed.

Cate walks back into the room, minutes later, brushing her teeth. "Will you..." she asks before she walks back into the bathroom to spit out the toothpaste. "Will you be here when I get back?"

"Huh?" he asks, barely processing. "Isn't that more of a boyfriend duty?"

"What?! I think that's more of a fatherly duty. I need to talk to Ryan after work."

"Are you guys getting back together?"

The lingering silence tells him all he needs to know.


End file.
